Beyond The Endless Heartache

On the fifth round of IVF, I was finally pregnant with Marcuss child.

When I ecstatically showed him the positive test results, Marcus suddenly said, Actually, your student, Melissa, and I we already have twins.

The world tilted, the color draining from my face.

But Marcus looked at me, his expression earnest.

"Do you know why your first few IVF attempts failed? Because Melissa didnt want you to suffer, so she secretly intervened."

"She was willing to carry my children for you. How could I deny her and our sons a family?"

"And now you're pregnant too. So, you can either accept this calmly and give our child a complete family, not to mention a respectable father."

"Or, you can make a scene, become a broke, single mother with no one to rely on."

"The choice is yours."

After he left, I sat in the dark for the entire night.

And then, I made a third choice.

Marcus left in a hurry.

"Melissa heard you're pregnant. She's terrified I'm going to abandon her. I need to go check on her," he said, his voice laced with a false sense of duty. "I know you must be a wreck right now, so I'll give you some space to think things over."

I sat on the balcony, the cold night wind whipping around me, until dawn.

When he returned in the morning, carrying breakfast, I asked him a single question.

"Can you treat us both fairly?"

Marcus was taken aback for a second, then gave a weary smile. "My thing with Melissa it started as a drunken mistake. But it turned out we were just incredibly compatible."

"You and I tried for so long, and nothing. With her, it happened the first time."

"Melissa is a kind soul. She was so worried you'd be heartbroken that she secretly went to get an abortion."

"If I hadn't stumbled upon the hospital bill, I would never have known that child even existed."

"After the procedure, she was consumed by guilt and fell into a deep depression. Her doctor said the baby was the root of her trauma."

He paused, looking at me cautiously.

My voice was flat, devoid of emotion. "So, to make it up to her, you had twins with her."

"Well, that's part of it. Mostly, she knew how much the IVF was taking out of you. She didn't want you to suffer anymore."

"Besides," he said, his tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather, "a child is a child. Whether she gives birth or you do, they carry my blood. It makes no difference."

"With Melissa, I feel a mix of pity and gratitude. But no matter what, she can't compare to the eight years you've spent by my side."

He took my hand, his touch as gentle as the day he proposed, his eyes swimming with feigned devotion. "Anya, I'm not asking you to accept her. Just turn a blind eye to my other family, and I promise, she will never overstep her bounds."

"You will always be Mrs. Blackwell. Of course I can treat you both fairly."

I gently pulled my hand away and produced the agreement I'd prepared. "Just in case. Sign it."

Marcus glanced at it, raising an eyebrow. "One instance of favoritism costs me a hundred thousand dollars?"

I pointed to the addendum. "That's the base price. The final amount for emotional damages will be determined by the severity of your bias. No upper limit."

"Marcus," I said, meeting his gaze. "Do you dare sign it?"

Marcus chuckled softly. "If it gives you peace of mind."

He signed his name with a confident flourish.

"Anya, I do love you."

"As long as you don't cause trouble for Melissa, I'll try to spend more time with you."

I felt a wave of dizziness.

Marcus and I were college sweethearts. I was with him when he went from bankrupt and drowning in debt to staging a stunning comeback. We lived in a cramped basement apartment, scavenged for leftover vegetables at the market. We'd split a single bagel, and I'd always give him the bigger half. I wore the same old clothes for years, saving every penny to buy him decent suits for his business meetings.

He used to be so good to me.

No matter how exhausted he was, he'd always cook me noodles when I came home from a late shift. No matter how busy, he set aside one day a week just for me. He said I was his motivation, that everything he did was for me.

One year, on our anniversary, he was stuck out of town on business. He felt guilty about it for months.

But now, spending time with me was a reward to be doled out.

The thought was devastating.

And after the devastation came a profound, crushing weariness.

Marcus didn't notice a thing. His voice held the arrogant tone of a benefactor. "I'll stay and have breakfast with you today."

He took a breakfast burrito out of a paper bag and handed me a freshly made cup of oatmeal. "Here. From that cart near campus. Your old favorite."

I sighed and reached for it.

Just then, his phone rang.

He glanced at me and answered it on speaker.

"Daddy! Daddy!" a child's voice chirped from the other end.

A smile bloomed on Marcus's face. "What's wrong, buddy? Is Mommy awake yet?"

"Mommy's sick! She's crying!"

The smile vanished from Marcus's face. "Stay right there. I'm on my way."

He grabbed his car keys and bolted.

The cup of oatmeal tipped over, spilling onto my skirt. It scalded my leg, leaving a painful red welt.

He never even looked back.

As I was treating the burn, he called. "Melissa is such a silly girl. She didn't want to bother you, so she tried to hide being sick. I can't leave her alone. I'll stay here today to take care of her. You can go to your prenatal check-up by yourself, right?"

I looked at the blistered skin on my thigh.

I wasn't surprised.

And before I even had a chance to feel sad, he hung up.

I sat there for a moment.

Then I took a picture of my leg and sent it to him.

[Your scales weren't balanced. Compensation for distress plus medical fees, total 0-080,000.]

A long time passed, so long I thought he hadn't seen the message.

Then, the notification sound for a bank transfer chimed.

It was followed by a voice message from him.

[I sent you an extra twenty thousand. Next time, don't resort to these immature, attention-seeking games where you hurt yourself.]

[I won't be back for a couple of days. You need to calm down and think things through.]

I had to laugh.

He actually thought I'd burned myself on purpose to win his affection.

In his eyes, I had become a helpless, clinging vine, capable of nothing but manipulation.

But I was a graduate of a top university, an honors student. Before I even finished my degree, a major corporation had offered me a position heading their overseas R&D department.

It was because I couldn't bear to leave Marcus that I gave up that opportunity. I chose to stay and work at a small, unknown local research institute instead.

My sacrifices hadn't earned me mutual respect.

They had earned me this humiliating, unbearable reality.

I wasn't without pain, or regret. But after the pain and regret, I had to think about the future.

I sniffled, my nose stinging slightly.

I transferred the full $200,000 into my personal savings account.

Then I did two things.

First, I contacted an agent to find me a suitable rental in the UK.

Second, I scheduled an abortion for the next day.

Marcus always believed the fertility problems were my fault. He thought I couldn't live without him, and that I would never give up the baby in my belly. That's why he felt so brazenly confident telling me about him and Melissa.

But the truth was, he was the one with the low sperm count.

There was nothing wrong with me.

I could have more children in the future.

They just wouldn't be his.

The procedure wasn't long.

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, the little life inside me was gone.

Staring at the medical report, I couldn't stop my eyes from turning red. I forced myself to pull it together and spent two days recovering in the hospital.

The day I was discharged, I received an official job offer from a prestigious research center in the UK.

I breathed a sigh of relief and headed straight to my old institute to pack up my things.

Before I even opened the door, I heard peals of laughter from inside.

"Liam is so brilliant! He's doing advanced math problems already! A true son of Mr. Blackwell and Director Melissa."

"And Toby is a little genius too! Look how fast he builds with those Legos!"

"I know, right? And they can already identify different chemical compounds and do experiments!"

"It's what happens when you combine superior genes. Not like Anya. She can't even get pregnant through IVF. You can just imagine how weak her genes are."

"Haha, it's a good thing she's barren. Can you imagine if she had an average kid? What a waste of Mr. Blackwell's DNA."

I recognized the voices. One was my former assistant, the other a nepotism hire.

Director Melissa? When did Melissa become a director?

I pushed the door open.

The chatter stopped instantly.

The smile on Marcus's face froze.

Melissa looked at me timidly. "Professor... Anya, what are you doing here?"

Marcus wrapped an arm around her shoulder, rubbing it gently in a silent show of support.

Seeing this, the others' expressions turned smug.

"Anya, you were fired. Why are you even here?" one of them sneered.

I paused. "Fired? When did that happen?"

The nepotism hire laughed. "Stop playing dumb. The notice was posted in the company group chat. Didn't you see it?"

I hadn't looked at the work chat at all while I was in the hospital.

I opened it now and saw that on the very day I'd had the abortion, the institute had terminated my employment for "procedural violations" and promoted Melissa to my position as director.

I laughed, a bitter, angry sound. "Procedural violations? Where's your proof?"

My former assistant lifted her chin. "I saw it with my own eyes. And there's security footage."

I stared at her coldly. "I have the original, unedited surveillance footage of every single one of my experiments. If you think you can frame me with a doctored video, we can settle this in court."

They froze, clearly not expecting me to have a backup. Melissa shot a panicked look at Marcus.

He patted her reassuringly. "Don't worry. Go play with the boys for a bit."

After Melissa walked away, his gaze lingered on her and the twins for a long moment before he finally turned to me, his eyes dismissive.

"Anya, the evidence doesn't matter. What matters is the attitude of the investor. Me."

"A top-tier research conglomerate has taken an interest in one of our recent projects. They've sent an invitation to a major science forum. Melissa is young; she needs a stage like this."

I clenched my fists. "So, for her to have her moment in the spotlight, you're just going to throw away all my years of hard work?"

A flicker of guilt crossed his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a smirk. "It's not fair to you, I admit. But it's her dream to be up on that stage."

"To convince me to help her... that shy, timid girl... she put on cat ears and a tail for me. Her face was bright red, but she spent the whole night meowing like a little kitten. Tell me, how could I possibly say no?"

For some reason, at his final question, all the rage inside me just... dissipated.

I unclenched my fists, my voice calm.

"In that case, a million dollars shouldn't be too much to ask, right?"

Marcus's expression went blank for a second.

After a few beats, he nodded. "Yes. You deserve it."

I held his gaze. "Transfer it now. And make sure the memo says 'Voluntary Gift.'"

Marcus frowned. "Anya, I thought you were the one who never cared about money."

I just smiled.

Since I'd already decided to give up on the man, I might as well take as much of his money as I could.

I needed to get my personal belongings from my office.

Melissa stood in the doorway, wringing the hem of her sleeve, her face a mask of pitiful distress.

"Professor, the research results... they weren't your work alone. I contributed too. If you take all the core data, what are we supposed to do?"

I had to laugh. "What did you contribute? The time you mistook sodium nitrite for sugar in my coffee and sent me to the ICU? Or the time you brought flammable materials into my office and burned all my research notes to a crisp?"

Melissa's eyes darted around, her trembling lips betraying her guilt and anxiety.

My face hardened. "Move."

She didn't budge, tears already welling in her eyes.

WHAM!

A sharp blow struck my lower back. I staggered, pain radiating through me.

Before I could recover, something hard slammed into my knee. The blunt force sent me crumpling to the floor. My forehead hit the sharp corner of the wall, and my vision went black for a second.

Through a blurry haze, I saw Melissa's two sons. One was holding a baseball bat, the other was still in a throwing motion.

"You mean bitch! Don't you bully our mommy!"

"Mommy was right! You're just a homewrecker trying to steal our daddy!"

Marcus rushed over. His eyes lingered on me for only a second before he opened his arms and pulled the weeping Melissa into a comforting embrace.

"It's okay, baby, don't cry. I'm here. No one's going to hurt you."

Then he turned to me, his voice sharp with anger. "Anya, what are you trying to pull now?"

I pushed myself off the floor and hit play on my phone's voice recorder. "Listen for yourself."

Melissa's sobs hitched. The two boys exchanged a guilty glance and lowered their heads.

Marcus listened, his expression unchanging, until he strode over and stopped the recording.

"Anya, they're just kids. Don't take it to heart."

He glanced at the blood trickling from my forehead, and his voice softened. "I'll have my driver take you to the hospital."

Before I could respond, the nepotism hire piped up. "Give it a rest, Anya. Mr. Blackwell has already divorced you. It's useless to keep clinging to him. You might as well take whatever medical money he's offering before he gets completely sick of you."

A loud ringing filled my ears.

"Divorced?"

I looked at Marcus.

He pressed his lips together, saying nothing, but his eyes held a clear warning.

I lowered my gaze and smiled. "That's right. He and I... we're already divorced."

When I looked up again, my expression was ice. "In that case, Mr. Blackwell, how much do you intend to offer for my medical expenses?"

Marcus was silent for a moment, then gave a lazy smile. "How much do you want?"

I pointed to my still-bleeding forehead. "Five million dollars."

Melissa gasped. "That's outrageous! It's just a"

"Done." Marcus cut her off and immediately initiated the bank transfer. "Anya, I'll take you to the hospital."

I sneered. "Don't trouble yourself, Mr. Blackwell. I can get there on my own."

"As for the transportation fee, let's say... ten thousand."

Marcus paused, then furiously tapped 'confirm' on his phone, his tone clipped. "Whatever you want."